Health Care & Community Activists


Children today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents for the first time in one hundred years because of the epidemic of obesity, according to Dr. William Klish, Professor of Pediatrics and Head of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine. In addition to this frightening realization, the cost of obesity to the economy has increased to $117 billion in direct and indirect annual medical costs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Quality, daily PE would do so much for the health of this country. Support it. 

As an advocate for daily, health-and-wellness-based physical education in our schools, we hope you’ll join a community-based team for PE4life Program Support Services. We encourage schools to invite PE4life to make a presentation to their school leaders, bring a community- based team of people to train at a PE4life model site, or invite PE4life to do an in-service for your school staff. As a resource partner, PE4life can provide these and many other services to schools as they work to get children more active and healthy.
As health care providers and activists, you can rally people in your community to get involved by ordering a PE4life Community Action kit video and show it to other community leaders, the school board and the PTA.The next step is to put together a community-based team (made up of PE teachers, school administrators, health care providers and other community leaders) and attend a PE4life Introductory Workshop. As a group, you can learn about what is possible and how a quality health-and-wellness-based physical education program can be a significant solution to the childhood obesity epidemic impacting our nation’s young people.

As a result of our initial visit to a PE4life Academy Training Center, we realized this was something that would be very beneficial in our community. I was able to convince the hospital board and work with the school systems to fund PE4life in all of our schools.

-Greg Carlson, Former hospital CEO, Owensboro, KY


I wish physical education was taught across the nation like it is taught [at the PE4life Academy Training Center].  You will end up saving more lives through your profession as a physical education instructor than I will ever be able to do as a physician.  Please make physical education teachers throughout the country aware of the immense effects their efforts can have in developing a healthier population. -Dr. Michael Kretz, 25-year practicing physician